Alternatives to cash money have traditionally been checks, credit cards and debit cards. More recently however, another alternative has become available. These are often called smart cards. Smart cards employ a programmable chip, in the modern incarnation, which chip stores information such as a credit amount on the card, and sometimes where and with what equipment the card is useable, smart cards are ubiquitous in overseas locales and are becoming more often used in this country as a substitute for cash, particularly in certain industries. Specifically, one example of an industry where these cards have become prevalent is in commercial laundromats. While certainly there are many other venues for this technology, the above is a common example. Cards are purchased by a user for a certain sum of money with excess deposited money being encoded on the card as a credit. The card may then be inserted into readers attached to a particular device where a debit will take place and the device will become operational.
There are several manufacturers of such cards and several different types of cards. Each manufacturer also supplies card dispensers, card encoders and card readers. In each case, there are drawbacks to the prior art dispensers, encoders and readers. Since improvements are always welcomed, a device and method according to the following disclosure, which overcomes all of the art recognized drawbacks of the prior art devices and methods will be well received by the art.